Authentication bypass via forgeable legacy cookie tokens
Published Aug 24, 2026 · Updated Aug 24, 2026
Cookie authentication bypass in affected CakePHP Authentication releases allows remote attackers to impersonate users via forged legacy tokens. CookieAuthenticator accepted an attacker-supplied username/hash pair and verified the supplied hash without restricting its algorithm, so DES truncation made legacy tokens forgeable. Exposure requires CookieAuthenticator without EncryptedCookieMiddleware; high-cost bcrypt or Argon2 hashes also exhaust CPU or memory during verification.
Summary
What happened
Cookie authentication bypass in affected CakePHP Authentication releases allows remote attackers to impersonate users via forged legacy tokens. CookieAuthenticator accepted an attacker-supplied username/hash pair and verified the supplied hash without restricting its algorithm, so DES truncation made legacy tokens forgeable. Exposure requires CookieAuthenticator without EncryptedCookieMiddleware; high-cost bcrypt or Argon2 hashes also exhaust CPU or memory during verification.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-77337
- Published
- Aug 24, 2026
- Updated
- Aug 24, 2026
- Vendor
- CakePHP
- Product
- CakePHP Authentication
- Classifications
- CWE-770, CWE-290, T1190
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 24, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Aug 24, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=< 2.11.2
- Affected versionversion=>= 3.0.0, < 3.3.7
- Affected versionversion=>= 4.0.0, < 4.2.1
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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